Zack sat on the old couch in his living room waiting to hear back from Rob, a strange tapping sound filled the air. He followed the sound to the weather-beaten door of his apartment where Danny stood, tapping his finger to the wall.
"It's rude to keep a man waiting, Zack," Danny said, the corners of his mouth twitching into a grin. "Now be a gentleman and invite me in."
Zack eyed him warily. "Why would I do that?"
"Because your friend needs help and the clock is ticking," Danny eyed Zack, and Zack stepped aside, allowing him in. "I know how you can save your friend. But I don't think you are ready to take on Lust, so I propose a challenge, take my knife and I will tell you where she is." He tapped his prosthetic leg and released the blade.
With a narrowed gaze, Zack lunged, leaping from wall to wall and reaching for the blade but Danny easily sidestepped each attempt. Zack regrouped, choosing to take a swing and the sin, who almost seemed amused by his desperate attempts.
"This is less than impressive," Danny retorted as he sidestepped another of Zack's maneuvers. In a swift motion, he swung the blade through the air, grazing Zack's arm and drawing a thin line of blood. "I was expecting so much more from you,"
"Why? Why are you playing these stupid games with us?" Zack clenched his jaw, his eyes flickering between human and vessel.
"I seek out the best and most unique for my covenant. Ethel is the only supreme in history to have time manipulation powers. She had so much potential. It's a shame really."
"What are you talking about? Ethel is alive and you know that," Zack muttered.
"I never told you which friend you could save. Amanda is on her way to Ethel's, I tried to stop her but she can be so stubborn," Danny called over his shoulder as he exited the apartment. "I wish you luck in stopping her."
Zack raced to his phone to text John and tell him to meet him at Ethel's. As he unlocked his phone a text from Deb flashed across the screen, "Emergency!!!"
---
Meanwhile, in Ahmed's basement, the Ouija planchette remained stubbornly still under Ahmed's fingertips. "This is pointless," he sighed, pushing away the wooden heart. "We aren't going to find Paulina like this,"
"Ok, Plan B," Rob said, handing Paulina’s keys to Ahmed. "Try Psychometry."
"Psycho what?" Ahmed looked at him confused.
"It's like this thing where people can connect to people through their possessions." Rob tried to explain.
"Rob, I've told you, I'm not—"
"Psychic, I know. Just humour me." Rob's imploring look was hard to resist.
Ahmed grasped the cold metal, hoping for a vision, a whisper, anything—but silence prevailed. Frustration creased Rob's brow as he passed Ahmed a pencil. "One more shot. Automatic writing."
"Fine, but when this shows nothing, we're done with the hocus-pocus," Ahmed grumbled, pencil poised over paper. His hand moved of its own accord, scribbling a series of small stones with symbols over them, like graves.
"Gravestones? What do you think that means?" Ashley peered over his shoulder.
"Means I'm still not psychic," Ahmed deadpanned, dropping the pencil with a clatter. "I've drawn these same graves in the corner of all of my notebooks for months, they are just fun to draw."
"OK, so what do we do now?" Ashley asked, looking over to Rob who had started to pace. They were no closer to finding Paulina, and time was a luxury they didn't have.
"I suggest you go try to talk to Leona," Ahmed insisted, as he stood up from his desk. "After all you did see the text from Zack mentioning she threw up poker chips,"
Rob paced Ahmed's basement like a caged tiger. "Of course, how could I've missed it! Lust is targeting gamblers and Leona just happens to have been force-fed poker chips."
"So Lust targeted Leona," Ashley interjected, putting a hand on Rob, stopping him from pacing, "But then why didn't they take Leona like all the others?"
Ahmed turned to her, her eyes narrowing with interest. "I don't think Leona was a gambler, but maybe she stumbled on to something that Lust couldn't risk getting out there,"
"Right, so we need to go to the hospital to figure out what Leona knows," Rob suggested, his gaze flicking to Ashley.
"So we go to this Leona person and just ask her why Lust tried to kill her?" Ashley asked, clearly unsure about how much Leona knew.
"We're going to have to be more subtle than that," Rob said. "Let's head to the hospital and we can work out what we can ask on the way."
Ahmed waved them off as they left, hoping they would get answers before Paulina's body was found.
***
Meanwhile, Ethel's old apartment was a death trap waiting to spring. Kristian's hand hovered over a switch. Ready to flick it and activate the electrical current.
"Everything is good to go," John said, from his position on the kitchen island.
"We just need them to take the bait," Kristian replied, watching the front door.
The doorknob giggled and the boys shared a look, their muscles tensed as they prepared for the Supremes, "Remember we need to wait until they all come into the apartment or the plan won't work," Kristian reminded John.
The door swung open but they were greeted by Ethel's unimpressed gaze. "What the hell are you two doing?"
***
Zack arrived at Deb's apartment, just like her text asked him to. Deb answered the door and quickly pushed him inside. "I found something," she said, leading him down the hall and into Jessica's officer. "In Jessica’s desk."
Before Zack could look at the desk, the sound of the front door opening sent both of them scrambling into the closet. Pressed together in the dark, they listened carefully as Jessica moved around the apartment.
"Deb..." Zack whispered, he hadn't been this close to her for a while and the scent of her perfume had him a little excited, much to his dismay.
"Seriously, Zack," she hissed, turning away, her body bushing against his as she tried to turn away from him.
"That doesn't really make a difference," Zack admitted, his face bright red in the darkness.
A sudden noise startled them, drawing their attention back to the office. The front door opened and closed again—Jessica was gone.
"Come on," Deb said, pulling Zack after her.
A map of Waterloo was positioned on the old wooden desk in front of them. Deb turned the lights off and grabbed a black light from the bookshelf. Under the blacklight's eerie glow, the map revealed its secrets, three different symbols appeared; R, FD, and D. Zack traced them with his finger, trying to make sense of it all.
Deb pointed to the D's "These are where the bodies were found," Deb explained. "I think D means disposal site. Which mean means VD could be future disposal sights."
"Ok, but how would Jessica know where the future bodies are going to turn up?" Zack asked, still looking over the map.
"I don't know, maybe there is a pattern or something only a trained exorcist can see," Deb reasoned, "And I don't know what the R means either,"
Zack took out and snapped a photo, "Maybe Rob will be able to figure this out for us," He sent the photo and the pair left the office.
***
At the hospital, Rob stood over Leona's prone form, it needed her face to unlock it. "Come on, wake up," he muttered, tapping her cheek lightly, then with more force.
"Ow! What the—" Leona's eyes snapped open, confusion evident on her face. Rob held the phone out in front of her and it unlocked with a flash of light.
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"Sorry, you're dreaming," Rob lied smoothly, already searching through her notes app. He opened her email and found a recent one for a research proposal on naturally occurring low-frequency sounds.
"Sound frequencies?" he mumbled to himself, scanning the text. "he clicked on the proposal,”
"Rob, is that my phone?" Leona's voice held a note of accusation as she shifted in the bed.
"Uh... yes." Rob handed quickly forwarded the proposal to himself. "It fell out of your bag, I was just grabbing it for you."
"Right," Leona rolled her eyes, holding out her hand for the phone. "I'll take that back now"
"Of course," Rob placed the phone in her palm and took a step toward the door.
"Thanks for the visit," Leona said, watching him go. "It was weird as usual."
Rob entered the hall and Ashley pushed off from the nurse's station to join him, "So what did you find?"
"Not sure," Rob admitted, opening his email to read the proposal. Ashley looked over his shoulder to see what he was reading.
"So you found a science project," Ashley said flatly. "How does that help us exactly?"
"Well she sent it to Bobby Dowding just days before he died," Rob explained. "Seems odd that the two people who read it were targeted, I just don't know why,"
Rob's phone buzzed with a text from Zack. Rob tapped it to discover the map from Jessica's office, "Wait a minute." Rob switched back to Leona's proposal and the map of the low-frequency sound waves detected in the region.
Ashley's eyes narrowed, her mind visibly racing. "Holy shit, they are the same," she murmured.
"This is it," Rob said louder than he should have, tapping Leona's research proposal. "It's all connected. bodies have been found at every reported location of a naturally recurring low-frequency sound." He ran his fingers through his hair, "Paulina has to be at one of these FD locations.
"Ok but which one?" Ashley asked, looking at the map. "there are still a lot of those FDs."
"We'll have to split up," Rob continued, texting Zack back. "If you, Zack and I check out these locations we might be able to find her in time." He finished his text to Zack who replied immediately.
"I'll head out to the St. Jacob's ones, Deb says she'll check out the ones in Cambridge," Zack stated. "You two take Kitchener and Waterloo."
---
Meanwhile, at Ethel's Apartment, Ethel paced the floor. "Are the two of you really this idiotic!" she scolded them. John and Kristian kept their head down as they listened.
Ethel was about to tear a strip off of them when the lights flicked for a moment before the room was plunged into darkness.
"Great," Ethel muttered, as she turned to the door, she could feel the powerful auras slipping through it.
"Ethel," Amanda's voice rang out as she kicked the door off its hinges, flanked by Kenneth and Brian, who had a firm grip on Jake. "You and I have some unfinished business to take care of."
"Let him go, Amanda. He has nothing to do with this," Ethel called out, looking at the fear in Jake's eyes.
"Don't you worry your pretty little head about it, he's just here to make sure you follow the rules," Amanda patted the man on his head, a twisted smile playing on her lips.
"What are the rules?" Ethel asked, her eyes never leaving Amanda's.
"You fight me, one on one," Amanda sneered. "If you little vessels over there try anything, Brian will kill Jake."
"Is that all?" Ethel asked, raising an eyebrow. Behind her John furiously texted his friends, hoping they would come to their rescue.
---
The mill stood silent, it was the third time Zack had been led to it. Zack could feel a weak aura coming from the silo around back, he went to push the door open but was pushed back. A circle of palm ash was laid around the silo's base, preventing him from entering. He lunged forward, only to be repelled again.
"Come on!" he growled, the night illuminating with a vibrant blue as he pushed against the mystical barrier. His eyes, once a pale shade, now blazed with an intense pink glow, the barrier rippling under his new strength.
"Damn it," Zack cursed as his eye flickered back to their normal dull pink and he was flung back. He hit the ground hard, every muscle screaming in protest. Powerless, he could feel Paulian slipping away on the other side, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
There was a crunch of gravel as someone else raced toward the silo, Lindsey appeared reaching for the steel silo door, and she slammed into it pushing as hard as she could. The door slipped away, revealing Paulina lying on the dirty ground inside. Lindsey raced to her side and radioed in to send an ambulance to their location.
"Is she?" Zack exhaled, moving closer to get a better look at Paulina. "Is she ok?"
"She is still breathing, that's a good sign," Lindsey replied curtly, before looking up at him. "My question is how did you know where to find her?"
---
Meanwhile, at Ethel's apartment, Rob, Ashley and Ahmed entered the lobby. "Ok, so what's the plan here?" Ahmed asked, sensing darkness spreading through the building, he shivered and rubbed his arms trying to keep warm.
"We need to get to the electrical panel," Ashley pointed, leading the way down to the basement, "If we can turn the power on, Kristian has a plan to defeat Amanda and the others. They found the switches, but were confronted with a new problem, how would they know when to turn the power back on?
"The longer we wait, the more likely it is someone dies," Rob texted John, thumbs flying over his phone screen. "I let him know they have one minute before we turn it on,"
John read the message and then turned his attention to Jake, the only one who didn't have a chance of surviving the shock, John carefully pulled a button off his shirt and charged it. He flicked at Brian, causing the man to fly backwards from the impact. John then flipped over the fighting Amanda and Ethel, securing Jake and getting to the kitchen Islan as the lights came back to life.
As the current surged through the wet floor, with Kristian getting caught in its path, his body convulsed as he collapsed. Amanda and Ethel also began to shake, the electrical current surging through them.
"Ethel!" Ashley screamed as she appeared in the apartment doorway.
"Stay back," Rob grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
Amanda, breathed fire, clearing the water around her. "Hold her down!" the order sent Kenneth and Brian into action. They forced Ethel to her knees, seeming unaffected by the current. They twisted her wrists so her claws were forced up.
"Leave him alone!" Ashley cried as Amanda hoisted Kristian into the air and brought him down upon Ethel’s waiting claws. She looked away, as Ethel's eyes flared and she unwittingly drained the life from Kristian.
"You killed one of ours and now I've killed one of yours," Amanda sneered, standing over Ethel's broken form. "We're even,"
"Monster," Ashley spat, trembling in Rob's arms from the doorway.
"You're next," Amanda said with chilling nonchalance, "If I have to come back here."
Kristian lay impaled, his body shaking uncontrollably, yet his gaze met Ethel’s with a silent understanding.
"Forgive me," Ethel whispered, kneeling over him.
"Always," Kristian breathed, his voice fading as he tried to hold on.
Amanda pushed past Ashley in the doorway, leaving the shocked group with some parting words. "Consider this our final offer, Ethel," she said coldly. "Join Greed by the end of the month of I kill finish of your pathetic covenant myself." She glanced back at Brian and Kenneth who were trailing behind her. Kenneth's eyes briefly met Ethel's—a silent flicker of remorse before he turned away, and followed them down the hall.
Ethel never looked up from Kristian, even as Amanda's laughter echoed down the hall. "Kristian, hold on," she urged, her voice trembling.
"Ethel," Kristian managed, his voice a mere whisper, "it's okay... I don't regret this—not any of it." His pale face as he coughed. "Being part of your covenant, it was all I ever wanted, to have friends."
"Please, don't talk like that," Ethel pleaded, feeling his aura fading fast.
"Don't let anger blind you," he said, his gaze locking onto hers, "protect Ashley and the others."
Those were his last coherent words. As the life drained from him, his mind wandered to Olivia. He remembered how her eyes had sparkled when they'd been lost together in the woods, her voice alive with wonder as she spoke of finding a place where they belonged. "It's you and me," she had mused, "together we can do anything."
"Olivia," Kristian breathed his last breath.
The lights turned off again and Rob and Ashley entered the room, time seemed to fracture. Ethel sat motionless, her hands shaking from the cold realization of loss. Ashley's sobs filled the space as she knelt beside Kristian, her tears spilling down on him.
"Ethel," Rob said softly, placing his hand on her shoulder. He could feel his own eyes begin to well with tears, they had lost someone else to Greed's covenant.
Ahmed finally made it to the apartment spotting John and Jake standing frozen, their shock rendering them speechless. Each of them felt defeated like they were fighting a losing battle.
---
Meanwhile, Jessica approached Pablo once more. "I've been back every day since our first meeting, I've held up my end but now it's time to hold up yours," she demanded, staring daggers at him.
Pablo regarded her through pain-clouded eyes. "I suppose you're right but I believe we have an uninvited guest this time," he rasped, turning toward the door.
"Enough stalling," Jessica retorted, looking back at the empty doorway. "I need to know what's coming."
"To know what's coming, you need to know what's already happened" Pablo countered cryptically, his gaze never leaving the doorway. "You might as well come in, I'd hate to have to tell this story more than once."
There was a moment of silence before Deb appeared in the frame, Jessica was shocked but Pablo just smiled. "Took you long enough,"
"Sorry to keep you waiting," Deb shot back, "I take it you aren't just going tell me this story for nothing."
"Clever girl," Pablo breathed "You're right, we need one more guest, you friend Zack," he said with a smile.
---
Zack’s gaze fixed on Lindsey as they sat outside Paulina's hospital room. An officer stood guard outside and her radio buzzed to life. "This officer Mark, we've found another body in Pioneer Park,"
"Got it," Lindsey said, clicking off the radio and turning back to them with an air of satisfaction. "I've got to go. Looks like this psychopath is still out there."
"Good luck," Zack said, his voice hollow.
Lindsey nodded, her blonde hair catching the dim light filtering through the grime-coated windows. "Next time you have a hunch, Zack. Call the police, don't go in there alone. Just imagine what could have happened if I didn't show up." She spoke sternly. "You got luck I figured out a clue left by the killer at the bar."
"Right, sorry," Zack said, as Lindsey vanished down the hallway.
"Zack, we need to talk," Paulina's voice drifted from the room behind him, it was weak and raspy. Zack entered the room, taking a seat beside her bed. "It's time you knew."
Zack frowned, "Knew what?" there was so much going on he already felt lost in it all.
"Your eyes, Zack," she uttered, almost reverently. "When you tried to break the circle... They changed colour."
"Changed colour?" Zack repeated, confusion lacing his tone.
Paulina’s lips curved into a faint, knowing smile. "It's not normal for a vessel. It's the mark of a True Supreme. Someone who ascends the rank, without stealing the power from anyone."
"True Supreme?" Zack felt like this was the least of his problems right now.
"It's a once-in-a-century deal... if that," Paulina murmured, her gaze locked with his. "I suspected it could be you after you resisted Gluttony's calls to join him. You have something within you, Zack. Something rare and powerful."
"Rarer than time powers," Zack realized, looking down at Paulina. A chill skittered down his spine as he realized why Paulina needed him to know. "Danny wants me too, that's why he's let us live this long."
"He needs to make you reach your full potential," Paulina winced. "He won't risk tainting your chances of becoming a Supreme."
"Maybe I can use that," Zack said, trying to think. "turn the tables on him," Zack's phone buzzed as Rob attempted to call him. Zack looked from the phone over to Paulina.
"I'll be ok," She assured him, looking worried at the phone. "You need to answer that call, Zack." Zack nodded and left the room to answer it. Paulina didn't need to hear the conversation, she could hear Zack's cries are anger and sorrow from her hospital room.